It Ain't Hard...

[Jack Winter]

I suppose the mats for synthing ax ammo really could drop from ax combat, on the other hand I'm really not sure it's needed at all, and maybe should be reserved for special occasions.. I have no problem having to go to the guardian sites for unlocks, but personally I wouldn't do it for synthing ammo...

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

As you can see, that's exactly what happens.
People keep perma using the premium ammo, then they complain about grinding materials

The players that are constantly running premium ammo have nothing to complain about because they don't do any collecting - they just blow themselves up and get free refills.

 

[Morbad]

Absolutely nobody unlocked all guardian stuff without relogging for epsilon data unless one is chronically unemployed and pretty far up the spectrum.

I resent the implication that my unemployment is somehow problematic.

Pad space, missions boards, HGEs... you name it, there's a relog for it. That would be a legitimate gripe... if it wasn't intended.

That it could be intended is vastly more horrific.

Can you imagine the forum if relogging brought you back to the instance you just eviscerated and you had to visit all the Guardian sites, or had to queue for docking....?

The general outrage be one more minor positive aspect to persistence and continuity!

Those mats aren't just for unlocking modules, they are required for synthing ammo for guardian weapons.

Synthesis is tied with a bunch of stuff for second worst addition to the game, right after Engineering.

I couldnt agree more. FDev should copyright strike all the guides from the internet and let everyone experience the challenge of figuring out the Guardian puzzles for themselves.

Turn on some lights, drop some garbage on the checkout scanner, get thingamabob from the fancy vending machine...sure didn't need a video for that. Local chat was plenty sufficient for bypassing the more tedious trial and error aspects.

As you can see, that's exactly what happens.
People keep perma using the premium ammo, then they complain about grinding materials

One of the things that turned me off of AX combat was the idea that synthesis was mandatory if I wanted to kill interceptors with a Sidewinder.

Makes it clear why the Guardians lost in the first place...no lasers.

 

[galahad2069]

Well, this is one issue that has a non-obvious answer.
Ammo synth should never be a thing and should be completely removed from the game (IMO)

This way a hydra will remain (mostly) as a group encounter and not a solo kill with the net effect of incentivizing cooperation and with the secondary gain of removing one perceived grind (also removing the pvp "fear" of i lost they must have been using prem ammo)

As for ammo, specifically, I don't really disagree, but that's a purely hypothetical question: the game is what it is, and ammo synthesis is a thing in it.
But it's not exclusively ammo what you can synth, there's also things like heatsinks and life support.

 

[Northpin]

As for ammo, specifically, I don't really disagree, but that's a purely hypothetical question: the game is what it is, and ammo synthesis is a thing in it.
But it's not exclusively ammo what you can synth, there's also things like heatsinks and life support.

Yea, i was talking specifically about the ammo* resynth since it is inducing the (real) grind. And by ammo resynth i mean all types not only the premium ammo.
Conserving ammo and using it efficiently would (again IMO) would benefit the players that are more apt at shooting and flying.
"Shoot it only when it obstructs your front view" would become a nice tactical advice instead of spraying multicannnons on targets at 2-3k range or firing frags on targets at 1.2km away.

Heatsinks take only basic materials, so are the vast majority of the non-ammo synths (with the exception of jumponium which has its use and which seems to be nicely balanced already) so i would not really remove all the resynths, just the weapons ammo

* ammo as in ammo for weapons not for utilities or modules (core or optional)

 

[ChaseBears]

Random thought: Most Ammo synth should be either materials or cargo. Like, either synthesize from specific minerals, or a limpet-like 'Ammo material', or even just an AFMS-like optional internal that only provides synth material.

 

[nemolomen]

- Theoretical (Forum) Timeline of an Elite Dangerous Gamer -

Day 0 - "Oh look, there this Elite Dangerous thing. Its got a 1 to 1 scale Milky Way Galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars. Cool!"

Day 1 - "Boy this game is very intimidating and has a steep learning curve. I'm making a lot of mistakes and I die a lot.But it is SO cool."

Day 10 - "Oh, I'm getting the hang of it now...weeeee. This game is awesome!"

Day 100 - "Why do I have to keep doing the same things over and over again? Delivering cargo, shooting ships, scanning plants, fighting wars, delivering cargo, shooting aliens, mapping planets, landing, docking, shooting...it never ends...but boy is it fun"

Day 300 - "Uh oh, I need better weapons/defenses/capabilities than I can buy to fight this enemy/achieve this goal that I want to engage. What? I can unlock them? Cool!"

Day 800 - "Ugh. The grind is killing me. I need to be at the top of the game with the best of everything all the time and it take SO MANY materials and bits and bobs. Every new ship I buy has to be fully engineered before I will fly it. Repetitiously re-logging is such a chore and SO boring. Why did they make it this way?"

Day 1000 - "Well, I completed the game. There is nothing new left for me to do. I have ground everything into the ground. I hate this game."

YMMV - Mine certainly does...

 

[Northpin]

YMMV - Mine certainly does...

After 4 years, 3 accounts and more than 6k hours overall, im still at day 310*

*( if you get what i did there )

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

Yea, i was talking specifically about the ammo* resynth since it is inducing the (real) grind. And by ammo resynth i mean all types not only the premium ammo.
Conserving ammo and using it efficiently would (again IMO) would benefit the players that are more apt at shooting and flying.
"Shoot it only when it obstructs your front view" would become a nice tactical advice instead of spraying multicannnons on targets at 2-3k range or firing frags on targets at 1.2km away.

Synthing is not just for more ammo. Advanced multis require synthing AX ammo because there's no other way to switch them from regular ammo.

 

[Morbad]

Heatsinks take only basic materials, so are the vast majority of the non-ammo synths (with the exception of jumponium which has its use and which seems to be nicely balanced already) so i would not really remove all the resynths, just the weapons ammo

Even heatsink, life support, repair, and FSD synthesis further trivialize logistics and attrition concerns. Synthesis in general is also inflationary, and it's implementation doesn't make any sense.

It's another one of those things where the fundamental premise is appealing, but the way it was implimented makes me sure the game was better without it.

 

[He$$eeTant]

The guardian data grind is cheap game design solely intended to pad out with the least amount of resources. It's crap, this kind of obvious grind is the biggest reason people quit this game and I am not going to pretend otherwise just because it isn't my problem anymore.

And "just go away!", "You are just jealous!" and "you are not as succesfull as me!" are hopeles arguments that help nobody.

The thing is they designed the game with multiple sites all within jumping distance. What they didnot do was “design” a clause to stop you relogging. So it’s up to you as an individual if you want to go site to site and experience the different set designs or just relog and perfect your time to gather stuff abilities.

Designing it to not support relog would be - one might say - childish and vindictive… “you MUST do what we want.

I for one like choice and choice is what FDEV have designed into their space game.

Me, I’ve logged and explored. I am a persistent Davs Hope, Cmdr Jameson and Crystal Shard site farmer but also get shed loads of mats from Missions and well sometime they are just lying around.

 

[Sublime]

To get Guardian Weapon Blueprints.
DBX - even without much engineering can do the trip in around 15 minutes.
Then around 10 minutes to get the blueprint, and a few more minutes to pick up the mats, kill the Sentinels off and generally have fun!

Best of all, most of the business can be done on foot in Odyssey, much more fun than chugging around in a SRV and getting stuck, etc.

Don't forget 2 point defence on top of your ship - the missiles are back!

(this was at: Synuefe EU-Q C21-10 planet A3.)

Yeah, now repeat that a few hundred times to unlock everything for maximum engaging gameplay.

I especially love the (hopefully bug but with FDEV you never know) where you can’t even shoot the tower with your SRV and you have to get out, shoot it on foot, then hop back in and collect it. I bet that’s really fun after the thousandth time.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Yeah, now repeat that a few hundred times to unlock everything for maximum engaging gameplay.

Dunno, pal.

I did the Ram Tah missions for data, mats are dead easy.

But don't let how I play stop you from doing it hundreds of times - I'd hate to have you disappointed!

 

[Mersozz]

To get Guardian Weapon Blueprints.
DBX - even without much engineering can do the trip in around 15 minutes.
Then around 10 minutes to get the blueprint, and a few more minutes to pick up the mats, kill the Sentinels off and generally have fun!

Best of all, most of the business can be done on foot in Odyssey, much more fun than chugging around in a SRV and getting stuck, etc.

Don't forget 2 point defence on top of your ship - the missiles are back!

(this was at: Synuefe EU-Q C21-10 planet A3.)

Thanks Ratty, this is much appreciated. I did the Guardian grind long ago, and got enough for the FSD booster and Guardian Gauss Cannon. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the top, I'd rate my AX skills at 3. And with Update 14, it's pretty clear that I need to upgrade my stuff, so back to the Guardian sites I go.

I like the idea of being able to complete sections on foot.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together....and I know it probably took a lot of time.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Thanks Ratty, this is much appreciated. I did the Guardian grind long ago, and got enough for the FSD booster and Guardian Gauss Cannon. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the top, I'd rate my AX skills at 3. And with Update 14, it's pretty clear that I need to upgrade my stuff, so back to the Guardian sites I go.

I like the idea of being able to complete sections on foot.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together....and I know it probably took a lot of time.

If you have the gauss cannons there isn't much left you will need for AX builds though. Just engineering your core modules and HRPs is much better.

 

[Northpin]

Even heatsink, life support, repair, and FSD synthesis further trivialize logistics and attrition concerns. Synthesis in general is also inflationary, and it's implementation doesn't make any sense.

It's another one of those things where the fundamental premise is appealing, but the way it was implimented makes me sure the game was better without it.

while i do agree with that, removing resynths from utilities and core/optional modules would do more harm than good at this time, which wont be the case for removing the resynths from weapons ammo

 

[Rat Catcher]

If you have the gauss cannons there isn't much left you will need for AX builds though.

So there is only 1 loadout to use?
"Do it my way or not at all"?

 

[Mersozz]

If you have the gauss cannons there isn't much left you will need for AX builds though. Just engineering your core modules and HRPs is much better.

Thanks for the advice. I have the small (size 1) Gauss, and I'm a few mats away from unlocking size 2. I keep hearing a lot of good things about the Salvation stuff so I might as well check that out as well. With respect to core mods and HRPS, pretty much A rated and G5 througout.... I have a few ships I've been messing around with for AX... Chieftain, Challenger, and my beloved DBS because I like to live dangerously.

 

[ubermick]

If it's not fun, then don't do it? FWIW, I've relogged and yes it's boring, last time I went out I used the EDMC Canonn plugin, it took me on a trip through several guardian system and I had fun with different layouts and different lighting, some with sunlight and some in the dark.

STOP enjoying the game Jack, you're doing it wrong!

I mean, c'mon man. If more people adopt that sort of approach, it'll put the yootoobers who convince everyone they need 40 ships and 20 suits all G5 rated in a weekend out of work!

 

[ubermick]

Thanks for the advice. I have the small (size 1) Gauss, and I'm a few mats away from unlocking size 2. I keep hearing a lot of good things about the Salvation stuff so I might as well check that out as well. With respect to core mods and HRPS, pretty much A rated and G5 througout.... I have a few ships I've been messing around with for AX... Chieftain, Challenger, and my beloved DBS because I like to live dangerously.

From what I remember Mers, the Salvation GAUSS cannons aren't recommended at all by the AXI lads. (Although the plasmas and shards are)